Interactive voice response systems are well known and widely used today. Generally speaking, an interactive voice response (“IVR”) system communicates with a user through a voice-band interface, such as a telephone connection, typically “speaking” prompts to the user and receiving user commands and other input in the form of speech or DTMF signals.
Most IVR systems include a set of logic that defines a navigation structure through which a user can navigate by providing suitable speech or DTMF commands. For instance, the logic might define a first prompt that asks a user to select from a first set of response options, and, for each response option, the logic may then define a respective second prompt that asks the user to select from a respective second set of response options, and so forth. Ultimately, the user may reach a desired point of the navigation structure, such as an information navigation point (i.e., providing the time or a weather forecast) or a telephone extension (i.e., the individual to whom the caller was trying to reach). Sometimes, however, the IVR system cannot address the callers needs and the user opts to be connected to a human operator to engage in live communication.
Unfortunately, due to poor design, system overloading, or for other reasons, a user can sometimes become stuck at one or more navigation points in an IVR navigation structure. For instance, a user may reach a part of the navigation structure that continuously shifts the user back and forth between two or more navigation points, regardless of the user's response selections. As another example, a user may reach a given navigation point that either does not prompt a user to navigate to a next point or that repeats itself regardless of the response selection made by the user. In such a situation the caller is generally left with few options except to hang up and start the process again.